Томас Долби возвращается с The Lost Toy People на фестиваль Totally Tubular, используя AI как соавтора

Thomas Dolby has spent his career chasing the next creative frontier. The English singer-synthesist, known for international 1980s hits “Hyperactive!” and “She Blinded Me with Science,” has always been eager to explore emerging technology and see how it can reshape the creative process. “Very often, new technologies open up creative possibilities that you hadn’t thought of before,” Dolby said. “I love diving headfirst into something like that and being among the first people to explore it and see what you can do with it.” Thomas Dolby & The Lost Toy People is headlining the 15-city Totally Tubular Festival tour, which stops Saturday, Aug. 15, at the Rose Music Center. The lineup also includes A Flock of Seagulls, Men Without Hats, The Producers, Animotion, The Escape Club and Tommy Tutone. Dolby previously performed solo on the 2024 Totally Tubular tour. From behind a workstation of synthesizers and a laptop, Dolby projected his digital interface onto a screen, letting audiences watch him build tracks in real time. “I’ve been doing solo shows for quite a few years, and you worry that it’s not going to be very thrilling to see somebody with their face buried in a laptop,” Dolby said. “Like so many shows these days, it’s sort of a sea of Apple logos. I just thought it’d be nice to actually let people see what’s going on in there.” Dolby’s fascination with technology has long shaped his music, from the intricate layers of his synthesizer-driven recordings to his willingness to embrace new tools. Today, that curiosity has led him to experiment with artificial intelligence as part of his songwriting process. Rather than replacing human creativity, he sees AI as a collaborator. Much like relying on a studio engineer to manage knobs, dials, faders and patch cords, he prefers to stay focused on melodies and ideas rather than technical details like bitrates. “The trick with technology is always to know what it’s good for and what it isn’t good for,” Dolby said. “The challenge is always going to be, how do you rise above the white noise? How do you rise above mediocrity and do something that really stands out?” This time, Dolby will perform with a full band, The Lost Toy People, which served as his backing band from 1986 to 1989. The Lost Toy People backed Dolby on the Grammy-nominated “Aliens Ate My Buick.” The 1988 album spawned the alternative radio hits “Airhead,” “The Ability to Swing” and “The Key to Her Ferrari.” Dolby said this year’s Totally Tubular set will lean heavily on “Aliens Ate My Buick” while also featuring other favorites. “Aliens Ate My Buick” was Dolby’s third album, produced upon his arrival in Los Angeles. Released in 1988, the album contains deliberately exaggerated satire that reflects the era in which it was made: “While I’m impressed with the size of that chest, she’s not an intellectual giant.” Unlike his previous work, which was more introspective and introverted with occasional flashes of exhibitionism, the album was like a postcard home, saying, “Hey, mum, I’m out in L.A. and I’m having a wild time.” Dolby believes younger audiences continue to discover that ’80s music is a treasure trove of musical ideas. Even though it feels like a cohesive scene now, the bands remain remarkably distinct — and were “quite frosty, quite competitive” back in the day, he said. Now, backstage at Totally Tubular, there is lots of hugging. “The music that we loved in our teens and 20s is the muse we still stick with today,” Dolby said. “It’s when you’re at your most impressionable. The most ecstasy, the most heartbreak. If you survive this long and you’re lucky enough to still be getting paid for the music you wrote in your 20s, then you have a shared sort of destiny.”